Bruce Woodcock – BOXINGWRITER.CO.UK

First published at Roundtable

As Fabio Wardley prepared for the weekend and his fight with New Zealand’s smiling bomber, Joseph Parker, he becomes the latest British puncher to challenge for a version of the world title. His, like many others, is a tale of the unexpected given the Ipswich man had no Amateur fights and started his pugilistic life on the ‘White-Collar’ circuit.

History fondly remembers the great British heavyweights of course; Lennox Lewis, Anthony Joshua and Tyson Fury – all ultimately successful on the world stage – chief among them. Henry Cooper, famous for his brave but doomed challenges to Muhammad Ali, is still revered, along with the eternally popular Frank Bruno who won the title at the third attempt.

But there are British heavyweights who challenged for versions of the world title, the memory of which often remains trapped in the pages of time.

Continue reading →

By David Payne

When popular British heavyweight Dave Allen ambles to the ring on Saturday as the unofficial headline act in a show far removed from his Doncaster home, he will, as all of us do in some shape or form, seek to step in to the spotlight and beyond the shadow cast by his forefathers and the whisper of self-doubt amplified by their deeds.

Across the ring will stand the Liverpudlian giant, David Price. A man who denies the presence of such demons, with fighting pedigree the Yorkshireman can not yet requite and tangible advantages of height, reach and experience too. The O2 Arena in London plays host to this battle of could, would and should. A venue repurposed from inauspicious and self-conscious beginnings as the Millennium Dome and therefore an apt stage for the pair to find out a little more about each other, themselves and the realism of their respective ambitions.

It is a heavyweight contest with much to endear it to the boxing fraternity, the thousands promoters Matchroom Sports will urge to make the pilgrimage to the gate and the wider public too. Fighters like Allen and Price, flawed, with the bruises of life’s slings and arrows evident but not ruinous, with opportunity or obscurity waiting for the victor and the vanquished, often provide more entertainment and are more relatable heroes than those garrulous fellows of untainted preserve. We can admire Floyd, but we love Arturo. Continue reading “All that glitters is not coal; Doncaster heavyweight Dave Allen and a century of struggle” →